Tales of Inthrigue!
by Inthretis
Summary: A collection of oneshots, scrapped stories, story ideas, and Writer Games: Forum Edition fills.
1. Fill: Roll For Damage

**Hello, and welcome to Tales of Inthrigue! [sic], where I publish all of my stuff that I want to put out that isn't a complete story. This includes scrapped stories that I couldn't figure out how to continue, fills from prompts that I wrote based on The Writer Games: Forum Edition on the Professor Arc Forum (and exist there as well), story ideas and outlines, and other miscellaneous stuff.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **This was a fill where the original prompt was completely unrelated to it, and indeed I just wrote this because I felt like it. No, not all of my works are real world AUs, I just felt that this fill was a good one to start off with.**

 **Fill: Roll For Damage**

* * *

Cinder Fall, Neo, Adam, Pyrrha, Yang, Ruby, Blake, and Weiss sat at a table. Weiss picked up a 20 sided dice and rolled.

"Sorry, Cinder. You rolled a 1. You tripped and impaled yourself on Pyrrha's sword."

"How? I destroyed it and threw off the tower."

"Pyrrha rolled a 19 on her semblance roll. In addition to throwing gears on you, she also got back her weapon, although it's still in pieces. You fell on the largest one."

"I roll for damage."

Weiss rolled again, "You got 3. Your lung is pierced and you bleed out."

Pyrrha said, "I move to plunge my sword deeper into Cinder's chest."

"Roll a d20."

"11."

"Cinder is bleeding more."

"Weiss!" Yang shouted, "Can Adam, Blake and I finish? We have a book club meeting to get to."

"That's fine, if Pyrrha and Cinder are okay with it."

Cinder nodded, "I'm going to need time to figure this out."

Pyrrha smirked, "It's alright. Watching Cinder squirm is hilarious."

Weiss nodded, "Blake is on the floor, with Adam above her. Yang sees him."

"I charge," Yang said, "My character gets a plus 5 due to initial rage. Fists out, I plan to smack Adam in the face."

"I move to counter," Adam said, "My character's semblance is all about countering."

"Adam, roll a d20," Weiss said.

"I rolled 18. And my plus 2 against surprise attacks."

"Your blade pierces Yang's heart."

"I roll for damage!" Yang yelled.

"It's in your heart," Weiss said again.

"I. Roll. For. Damage," Yang pressed.

"Fine."

"What do you know, 20. And my plus 3 masochism bonus."

"... Damn it, Yang is completely fine, and somehow stronger than before."

"Oh! Oh! I'm still falling because I hit Neo on the way down!" Ruby smiled as Neo glared at her, "I roll to land on Adam!"

Weiss rubbed her temples, "Roll a d20."

"Aw poop, 1."

Neo tugged at Weiss and handed her a note. Weiss read it out loud, "Don't forget my characters' illusion still applies."

Weiss stroked her chin and hummed, "Ruby lands. On Yang."

"What!? I roll for damage!" Yang shouted.

"D20."

"... Damn, 6. Masochism though."

"Both of you are injured, but relatively fine. Ruby broke her left arm."

"I move to strike Yang," Adam said.

"Roll-"

"Wait! I move in the way of the blade! Look, I rolled a 15!"

"Fine, Ruby moves into Adam's way. Adam, roll for for strike."

"17. Plus my plus 3 against defenders."

"You pierce through Ruby's stomach, and your blade stretches so far out her back it stabs Yang in the chest, piercing her lung."

"I roll for damage!" Yang pumped her arm out.

"D20. You have a minus 5 due to previous damage."

"20 again! And my masochism and Sisterly Bond combine for a total of plus 10!"

"You and Ruby are perfectly fine. Ruby's arm is now slightly less broken," Weiss droned out as Yang pumped her fist in the air.

"Book club starts in five," Blake peeked out from her book, "I take Yang and Ruby using adrenaline, then I use my semblance to carry them away. After that I drop them off on a ship and my character runs away, never to be seen again. Then I can finally leave this stupid campaign."

Roll a d20… four times."

"14, 15." Blake said.

"Wait, my character slashes Blake's head off," Adam said.

"Adam," Blake almost whined.

"Roll a d20."

"4."

"Blake survives and you hit a shadow clone. Blake, roll two more times."

"19, 17."

"Wait!" Yang said, "My other character, Sun, rolls to chase after Blake."

Weiss frowned, "You have to roll higher than 17."

"19. Sorry Blake, but you're not leaving this game yet! I will ship you with one of my characters!"

"Damn it, Yang," Blake grumbled as she, Yang and Adam got up from their seats.

"Oh Blake, I need you to finish your backstory before next week!"

Blake waved her off dismissively, "Yeah yeah, I'll write something down or whatever."

They left.

Cinder and Pyrrha, the former was furiously scribbling down calculations looked up. Pyrrha smiled, "My sword is deep inside of Cinder, drawing out blood. Cinder is in pain. What now?"

Cinder looked up at Pyrrha, then at Weiss, "I'm out of moves and spells. Should not have gone for a Warlock-Mage-Rogue build. I uh, have nothing else really. Except for charisma."

Pyrrha and Weiss frowned. Cinder continued, "I have one more use of Epic Persuasion. I move to persuade Pyrrha to my side and heal me."

Weiss frowned more, "You have a minus 5 due to enemy status, and another minus 5 because of your bleeding."

"I pull Wounded Gazelle Gambit, that gives me a plus 6 to counter the bleeding. That's my last Special Keikaku available."

"You need a 20 to work."

"It's my only choice. I have… 20. Man, we are lucky today."

"Cinder convinces Pyrrha to stop and heal her. Pyrrha uses up all her potions."

"Wait!" Pyrrha says, "I roll to seduce Cinder to my side!"

"Pyrrha, you've failed every charisma check with Jaune, so you have a permanent minus 2 to seduction," Weiss said.

"I have to stop Cinder," Pyrrha said flatly. She was still pissed that Jaune tried his hardest to make his character miss her's attempts at romance. Damn him! He ruined Pyrrha's perfect seduction streak. She'd been able to seduce every character she'd set her sights on in the last seven campaigns. Now she has to go for Cinder's.

"Roll a d20," Weiss said.

"I got 12. But! I kissed Jaune's character before he left, and that was only about ten minutes ago in game time. I activated Second Hand."

Weiss frowned before an expression of awe spread on her face, "So that's why you had Velvet's character shanked. To steal her ability."

"And with that, I copy Jaune's Blonde Bastard ability, doubling my charisma in seduction against non-DM characters," Pyrrha smirked, "Which means I have a 20 in total."

Weiss looked at Cinder, who groaned, "Sorry Cinder. Pyrrha activates Second Hand, allowing her to recall the scrumptious taste of the adorkable blonde she had recently face sucked. In an instant, her blood red hair was illuminated before turning into a cascade of gold. Her now blue eyes shimmered in the twilight at the healed Fall Maiden at her feet. Cinder Fall had seen the true light, and her heart grew again. No longer entrapped by the evil Salem, her heart was now free to love another."

She frowned, "And lo and behold, what wonderful person lay before her. Truly this blonde specimen was worthy of her, after all, CInder was just bested by such an opponent. Their eyes met, and Pyrrha dove down onto Cinder."

Weiss sighed, "I'm stopping here. This was so stupid. This campaign is so stupid. Ruby, why did you choose this mess?"

Ruby brightened, "I heard it had cool weapons and giant monsters!"

She looked around the table, at a defeated Cinder, a smug Pyrrha, a bouncing Ruby, and a slightly bored Neo. Weiss sighed, "Do you guys want to wrap up for today? I want to try to rework what we got because this is ludicrous."

Murmurs and nods went across the table, and everyone began packing up.

* * *

 **Considering RWBY's convoluted rules and lore that continuously make less and less sense, as well as some controversial stuff in the show (e.g. Blake's parents), I thought that the only logical explanation was that everything was made up on the fly by a bunch of teens playing some vaguely DnD-like tabletop RPG.**

 **All the player characters are screwing around, and Weiss the DM is just trying to make everything mesh. Couple that with design flaws in the game and disinterested players like Blake, weird players like Pyrrha, and screwy players like Yang, and you get a hot mess of a world that is somehow even stranger than canon.**


	2. Scrap: City Builder Remnant Edition

**Way back in February, around the middle of Volume 4, I played a lot of Cities Skyline. Around that time, I had an idea. What if a character became the Gamer, but for a different kind of game? Think about it, the Gamer ability is really only for RPG gamers, but what about people who game in different genres? COD players, MOBA, puzzle, 4X, Strategy, etc. At some point, I thought "Yang being the Gamer hasn't really been done yet. And it'll be funny since City Builders require forward planing and patience".**

 **So I wanted to write a story featuring Yang doing that. But at the same time, I didn't want to have Yang spending entire chapters trying to figure stuff out, because I wasn't interested in writing that. So I created a character, the Mayor of Vale. He was basically like Ozpin, a body hopping guy with super powers. Except as the Gamer. I imagined him as Peter Port, but not as bad.**

 **The first chapter was set, and I wrote it rather quickly.**

 **Scrapped story: City Builder Remnant Edition**

* * *

Yang Xiao Long, eighteen year old one armed cyborg huntress, was idly flipping through channels while sitting on her couch. It was the end of another day of training with her dad, and now that it was over, she could relax.

Well no, she was just bored. That kind of bored that appeared after a hard day's labor, only to have nothing to do afterwards. She had stopped being depressed (less depressed) so she didn't feel like listening to all those sad songs in her dad's music library. Yang felt her tastes in music was just to balance out the mood in their house, so Ruby would actually know that not all music was depressing.

She _could_ have helped out with making dinner, but after that one time she tried cooking when she was twelve, she'd been banned from going anywhere near the stove. It totally wasn't even her fault, too! Ruby and her sad puppy dog eyes passed the blame onto her. That was definitely how it happened.

So as she clicked her remote, going through the same thirty channels available for the second time, she sighed. If only there was something—

 **Congratulations!**

Yang jumped out of her seat, dropping the remote and pulling her hands into fists.

Nothing happened. It was just a blue floating holographic box with a single word printed on it. Which was _weird_. She could have sworn the only holograms in her house came from the TV, and it was way too lame to pop out at her—

 **You have received the Title of Mayor-In-Training!**

Yang raised an eyebrow before the words changed again.

 **Game Setting: CB**

 **Map: Vale**

 **Name: Yang Xiao Long**

 **Title: Mayor-In-Training**

 **Level: 1**

 **Money: 50,000 Lien**

 **"That should be enough to start you off, eh?"**

"Holy!" Yang yelped and looked around. The voice she heard right then was of a male stranger, "Who's there?"

" **Greetings, Ms. Xiao Long, I am the mayor of Vale! Or at least I was, until that Nevermore misplaced my innards. Luckily for me, I am somewhat immortal, so that's how and why I'm here!"**

"Dad? Dad! I there's something wrong with me! I'm hearing a voice in my head!" Yang yelled as she approached the kitchen. She didn't want to get therapy, but she was _not_ living with this. She already had enough issues.

" **What was his name again? I believe Ozpin mentioned your father once. Tall Yin? He's the inebriated one, right? No wait, I'm thinking of the bird guy. Your memories should start filtering in soon however."**

Yang grit her teeth, "Shut up," she said as she entered the room to see her father setting the dining room table.

"Yang? That voice, what is it saying to you?" his face showed concern as his lips curved downwards into a frown.

" **Mayor of Vale, here to offer you inexhaustible funds and unprecedented power in exchange for your services."**

"He's trying to corrupt me with unlimited power and money for my services."

Taiyang's frown deepened.

" **Mayor of Vale! Say that and let's get on our way to the city, we have important stuff to fix and no time to waste!"**

"He wants me to run away from home into the dangerous ruins of Vale."

" **Mayor. Of. Vale. Just say that and your father will understand."**

Yang didn't say anything.

" **Listen, you are not going insane. I can prove it. Just say 'Turn On User Interface'. Or at least tell him I'm the mayor of Vale. Just say that. Please, I'm begging you."**

Yang raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

There's no way any version of her possibly crazy mind would _beg_ , at least this quickly. Yang had at least some dignity. She looked at her father, "The voice says he's the mayor of Vale."

Taiyang's eyes widened before looking at Yang, "His voice, how would you describe it?"

"Annoying?"

" **I resent the accuracy of that statement."**

"I meant his mannerisms," Taiyang corrected.

"He has a deep voice with a weird accent. He yells a lot and tries to use fancy words, and sounds melodramatic," Yang crossed her arms, "Are you saying…"

"That the voice in your head is more than a voice? Yes. Do you remember the tale of the man with two souls?"

"Guy gets a second soul stuck in him, they argue and oh my God that's what's happening to me isn't it?"

Taiyang scratched the back of his neck and sheepishly smiled, "Well, at least you're not alone. Right now, some poor kid is probably stuck with Ozpin in their head too."

Yang stepped back, "There's more than one?"

"Quite a few. I think around ten," Taiyang scratched his stubble before he continued, "They are ancient beings from generations past, with the ability to pass on their memories and abilities to new people should they die."

" **And unlike Ozpin and the maidens, I'm not sexist, so it's a blind selection. Although I do try to steer towards young adults."**

"Several of history's greatest champions were part of one of the successions. And if I recall correctly, his particular rules of transfer is to a random person outside of the city's borders," Taiyang snapped his fingers as he recalled, "There's also something about a debt to Vale."

" **Aye. The last king of Vale entrusted his capital to me and I intend to keep that promise."**

"Yang, please listen. You've been granted a wonderful gift and a terrible burden, and you will have to make many sacrifices and difficult choices ahead," her father put his hand onto her shoulder, "I know it's sudden, but I would like you to listen to the Mayor. He's on our side."

" **I am grateful for your trust in me, Tall Yin."**

"It's Taiyang," Yang corrected. Taiyang merely shrugged and removed his hand.

" **Ah, my apologies. Ms. Xiao Long, I would like to have a serious talk with you about our current predicament."**

"Fine," Yang mumbled.

She looked at her father, who spoke back, "He'll probably need your help rebuilding Vale. Wow, to think that the new mayor would appear here, right after Peter and Bart left. I'll have to contact them and tell them the search is over."

"They were looking for the voice?" Yang questioned.

"He's important to Vale's continued function, and at the very least he will hasten the reconstruction efforts."

" **Understatement of the century, Taiyang. I wield phenomenal power matched only by that by three others."**

"Okay what exactly is your power?" Yang asked.

" **I'm glad you asked. Please say 'Turn On User Interface'."**

"Turn on user interface?"

The whole world around Yang changed. The edges of her vision filled up with numbers and odd symbols, and the room in front of her took on a strange look; it was as if everything fit onto a grid. She could still see her father, who had taken on a strange pixelated texture, his skin seemingly made of thousands of tiny cubes.

" **The graphics will get better over time, don't worry. You might want to go to your bedroom for the next part."**

"Next part?"

" **It's safer to do it in an empty room. You also might want to say goodbye to your father for now."**

Yang frowned, "Why?"

" **We do need to proceed post haste. Vale is a literal ruin at this moment, and thousands are in need of our assistance."**

Yang shook her head, "Fine."

She looked at her dad, "I guess I'm going to my room now. I'll see you soon?"

Taiyang gently smiled back, "I'll be here. Are you still going to eat dinner?"

" **Sadly no. We'll be needing to leave Patch shortly."**

"Can't I grab some stuff before I leave?"

" **No need. We can return to your residence quickly if the need arises, and most of the essentials should be with one of Ozpin's assistants."**

"Okay no dinner, dad. I think I'm going to Vale now," she said. Her father nodded back.

Yang left the kitchen and quickly entered her room and closed the door behind her, "Now what?"

" **Tell me, how familiar are you with video games?"**

"Uh, I'm a fan of fighting games? And Remnant: The Game is fun but I don't think that counts."

" **So almost no experience. This makes it more difficult, but fret not my dear. I will teach you everything I know before I'm gone."**

"Wait, gone?"

" **I was hoping to put this off, but… I** _ **am**_ **dead. While there is the technicality where my soul latches onto others allowing for my continued existence, but I no longer actually exist. Eventually my soul will be absorbed into yours. You will gain all of my memories, my abilities, and a little bit of my personality."**

"Damnit."

" **Don't be rude. As it is, I must eventually pass on my duties to you, Yang. But I do have quite some time to go to guide you, Mayor Xiao Long."**

"Great. Saddling me with taking care of an entire city, please do go on."

" **The burden is great, yes, and somewhat ironic given our purpose. You have enormous responsibilities thrust upon you without your assent. I was in this same position thirty years prior, and I will do my best to ease the transition, but know this: your life will never be the same. You will have to spend the rest of your days fostering mankind and the choices they will make. You will have to agree with them, no matter your personal opinion."**

"Fostering mankind sounds really vague. And difficult."

" **Indeed it is. BUt you are not without tools at your disposal. There is no reason to beat around the bush, as they say. The power that now resides within your soul has altered your body beyond comprehension. You'll still perform most actions like a normal human, but expect some oddities as well as monumentally strong powers."**

Yang folded her arms, "You keep mentioning special powers. What powers do I have beyond these weird symbols I'm seeing?"

" **Say 'View Map'."**

"Is everything going to look weird now, or am I going to just see a map?"

" **But that would ruin the fun, Mayor."**

"If I'm the mayor, what do I call you?"

" **The Esteemed Advisor to her yellowness Yang Xiao Long, soon-to-be Mayor of Vale. Or the Advisor for short."**

"What, you didn't have a name before becoming the Mayor?"

" **I once did, but I like 'The Advisor' more. It has gravitas. You'll probably like being called Mayor."**

"I like Mayor Yang. I want to," she pointed to her hairline, "Keep to my roots."

" **I don't get it. Why did you point to your scalp?"**

"I was pointing to the roots of my hair."

" **I see, your usage of the word 'roots' was actually an idiom for returning to one's past or heritage. However, you also implied the term for the lower parts of the hair follicles. Wordplay."**

"Yes," Yang said slowly, "That was a pun."

" **Ah."**

"I make those sometimes."

" **So it seems. Sorry, but the memory sharing between us will not occur until after a few days."**

"You _do_ know what a pun is, right?"

" **A joke utilizing the different possible meanings of words or homophones. A play on words. I know what a pun is, Ms. Xiao Long. You are just horrendous at pointing."**

"What? I pointed at my hair! Everyone knows about hair roots! What, you've never been to a hair salon?"

" **Actually, I have not patronized to one in years. At level 10 I believe, you will get the ability to control the length of your hair."**

"What!?" Yang yelled, "That is awesome! How do I get more levels?"

" **Learn how to use your new abilities and rebuild Vale, of course."**

Yang pumped her fists into the air, "Let's do this!"

She bent her knees, sucked in a breath and exhaled, "View map."

With a sudden jolt, Yang was propelled out of her room, out of her house, and into the air. In an instant, she ascended past layers of clouds and into the bright sky. She saw the sun, about to sink under the horizon. Below her was the city of Vale, in its entirety.

Steel pillars rose from the ground, with paved roads snaking through them to create a complex web, with pillars being replaced by houses and shops as she looked south, her eyes crossing over a river. To the west, Yang saw farmland, acres of amber and green. Further west, she saw rows of factories lined up right next to the ocean.

Looking far to the east, she saw Beacon Academy, an enormous dragon perched atop its tower. Nearby, she could see Amity Coliseum, floating in the air above the school.

Yang felt tears running down her cheeks. It was incredible. But before she could fully process everything, the Advisor began to speak.

" **Now then, let's start with something simple. How about… a road."**

* * *

 **/**

 **/**

 **/**

* * *

 **And that's all I wrote. I entered writer's block soon after, then a couple weeks passed and I lost interest in the whole thing.** **It was originally going to be a few chapters long, featuring villains like the White Fang and Adam, a disaster event with a bandit tribe invasion (Raven, of course), and would have also had crazy boring things like tax policies, zoning laws, budget management. While fighting off the Grimm. It would have been like Cities Skyline/SimCity meets one of those siege games.**

 **I won't write any more of this, but if anyone wants, they can take this idea and write a story about it. PM me if you're interested.**

CB:RE Jokes

Yang becomes the Gamer. Unfortunately for her, the genre is set to city builder. Rebuilding Vale is both boring and insanely difficult. White Fang, Grimm, and criminals are the least of her worries.

Faunus dust mine is power plant. Wait what's that over there! No faunus here!

Pave roads over enemies

Dead enemies start stinking up surrounding area lowering land value. Put sewer lines to move smell away!

Yang punches ground, levels up terrain modification

The Advisor/The Former Mayor of Vale/The Relic of Choice

Created by two brothers

represents humanity's choice in creating or destroying

Thus he fosters growth in humanity

Personality and history:

Was an "intellectual" of some kind before becoming the previous mayor. Does not like fighting. Is polite and well spoken, but nevertheless harsh when he wants to be. Sounds like a jovial man. Previous lives are separate, but all share the same memories and abilities. Each one adds to the memories and overall personality.

Is extremely limited, Tier 2 powers and up only work within city limits

Abilities:

Tier 1: Can be used everywhere

Instant travel

Ability to change elevation

Tier 2: Only used within city limits

Road building

Building/utilities placement

Zoning

Policies (requires approval by Council)

Level 1: One lane roads, early level zoning, placing of basic utilities.

Level 2: two lane roads, one way roads, wall construction

Level 3: schools, fire stations, clinics, waste cleaners, police stations, radio

Level 4: hospitals, ports, docks, public transport, TV

Level 5: Better walls, anti-air defense

Level 6: hunter outpost, CCT

Level 7: ability to breathe underwater

Level 8: combat school

Level 9: Control over hair length

Level 10: Beacon


	3. Fill: PUSH

**This is an oldie. My first Writer Games fill, written exactly one year ago, on November 17, 2016. Ironically, I found it an example of a too-specific prompt. Of course, even then, the prompt itself just inspired to write my first ever fill, so I guess it wasn't _too_ bad. **

**Fill: Penny Utilitarian Superhero (PUSH)**

* * *

 _Prompt: Ruby and Penny are superheroes with conflicting opinions on justice. One of them finds out the other's true identity._

Penny Polendina was, on the surface, an ordinary, if not odd, girl. After her father died, she moved to Vale and attended Beacon Academy. She was interested in many things, from engineering to macroeconomics, and was a straight A student. She was top of the class, a distinction she held with Ruby Rose, who was also two years younger.

This naturally led to the two becoming friends, as well as shared accidental hostility with Weiss Schnee (bumping into her was apparently a common thing), they hung out, went to the movies, played whatever sports that didn't require physical contact, and tried to one-up each other in academics. Their quirky personalities and shared interests in engineering were also of note.

Penny Polendina was definitely a normal girl, after all, she had a best friend, went to school, and occasionally saved the world from time to time. Oh right, forgot about that. Penny Polendina was created by her late father to be the hero that Remnant needed, At-Lass, an android that shot lasers, had swords, fly, among other myriad abilities. She is also an android, a machine created with a specific set of parameters and abilities.

By day, she's a normal student, by night she goes out to fight crime, defeat monsters, and save lives. She's defeated countless villains, from the mad scientist Doctor Watts to the master thief Roman Torchwick, ending with them incarcerated or dead. The lives she saved were numerous, her projections putting it in the hundreds of thousands.

Life was good.

Except for that other superheroine in town, The Grimm Reaper. Well that's what she calls herself, the media was still trying to come up with a good alias for her. Frankly, Penny thought it was too scary, maybe marketable to a certain demographic. Not like At-Lass, which catered to all ages, and allowed Penny to profit off of her own superhero status, allowing her to develop better weapons, better robotics, and donate to multiple charities as a bonus.

Grimm Reaper was an oddity. Whenever a criminal threatened civilians, she would always save them, allowing the perpetrator to get away. It didn't make sense to Penny, what was the point of saving the civilians if the criminals were allowed to threaten more people as a result of their freedom? Her father would have called that sentimentalism, or maybe terrible forward planning.

The one time the two ended up working together was after a madman blew up a bank and running away with millions of Lien. Grimm Reaper immediately went in to save civilians while At-Lass had to come in and capture the bad guy before he could get away. That was a terrible mistake in Penny's eyes. Twenty people were killed in that blast, and at most fifty others were in direct harm or in need of medical attention. But that monster would assuredly kill again, blowing up other inhabited buildings before finally being stopped. That was just the math. Sacrifice the few to save the many.

That was two weeks ago, and Penny hadn't let the foolishness of her fellow superhero get in the way of a normal life. The following day, Ruby had a broken wrist, and she claimed it was because of a bad fall. It could have been a coincidence, if it weren't for the emerging pattern. The day after Grimm Reaper fought against that giant bird monster, Ruby had a twisted ankle, and the time Reaper teamed up with Fireball to defeat a giant robot in Patch, Ruby was out of town, visiting her hometown… of Patch. It was a string of coincidences that was too long to ignore.

That was the mindset Penny was in when she encountered The Grimm Reaper outside of any normal emergency. Penny had decided to go on patrol after Ruby told her she was busy for the rest of the evening, so Penny had little to do other than listen to police scanners. Unfortunately for her, it was an unusually quiet night.

That was when she noticed a red hooded individual wielding an enormous scythe, just sitting there on a rooftop. Penny immediately recognized The Grimm Reaper's signature style, which probably would end up selling decent amounts of action figures, if only she would merchandize her likeness. The estimated profits would, considering current market trends and fads among her demographic, estimate around 2 million Lien this coming holiday season. That was 260,000 meals for the homeless or 10 million doses of vaccines.

Pushing all that aside, Penny stealthily approached The Grimm Reaper. She had also noted that both Ruby and Reaper having some form of headphones, playing music. If she was lucky, she could catch Ruby unawares. She had to be careful, Reaper had that enormous scythe (it had to be at least 90 kilograms, indicating that Reaper was stronger than she looked), along with super speed and reflexes, so if she was startled, Penny was likely to lose an arm.

Eh, she could always get a new one. Penny tiptoed in front of Reaper, noting the exact length of her arms and scythe and standing an inch farther. Just in case. As At-Lass entered her line of sight, Reaper took off her headphones and looked straight at her.

"Hello At-Lass. Is there anything you need?"

Penny decided to smile. Of course Ruby wouldn't recognize her, At-Lass used an entirely different prosthetic face than "Penny" did. Penny continued smiling before speaking up, "Salutations, Ruby!"

If she was Ruby, then she would catch her. If not, she can totally play it off as a quirk. Assuming her hiccups-when-lying thing doesn't start up again.

"Uhh..." was all Reaper said.

Penny's smile became warmer, as well as switching to her normal voice, "I know it's you, Ruby. I'd know my best friend anywhere!"

Ruby looked at her dumbfounded, "Penny?!"

"Yep! In the flesh, or in this case," Penny pulls off an arm, "In the metal. I'm a synthetic being."

"What."

"So… wanna go to the arcade? I can keep an eye on the police scanners with my built in transceiver."

"Okay. Bet I can beat you at Dance Dance Faunus Rights Revolution!" Ruby jumped up to hug Penny.

"Haha, not this time! I've been practicing!" Penny began floating in the air, "Want to race there first?"

"You're on!"

Penny smiled as she got into position, facing the arcade as Ruby counted down from five. She didn't agree with her friend's way of superheroing, but that doesn't mean she isn't a good person.

"Two. One. Go!" The two superheroines dashed off across the rooftops.

Besides, Penny thought, it's going to be fun convincing Ruby to her way of way of thinking.

* * *

 **When writing this, I came up with a bunch of worldbuilding for the AU this fic would take place in. It is a world of superheroes, where Grimm still exist, but the kingdoms are well adept at fighting them. Internal threats, supervillains, extradimensional monsters, etc. were a greater threat. If I ever did write a series based on this, there'd be a bunch of cool characters I could've writted:**

 **At-Lass, aka Penny, used to be the sidekick to Snow Queen, (Winter Schnee) before striking it out on her own after her father died to Doctor Watts. His final words were "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." As he sacrificed himself to save a bus full of people. Needless to say, Penny took her father's last words to heart. She's Lex Luthor meets Brainiac, but a good guy.**

 **The Grimm Reaper, aka Ruby Rose, who had enhanced strength, healing, super speed.** **She also has Cerberus, the giant cuddly three headed dog! It's Zwei with the ability to change sizes and grow heads.**

 **Fireball, aka Yang Xiao Long, is a half-human, half alien (on her mom's side) with super strength, fire powers (fire punch!) and invulnerability. Her alien half hails from a distant moon. She is the protector of the Island of Patch.**

 **There would be Weiss Schnee, who is next in line in her family to become the Arc-Sorceress, protector of Remnant from monsters residing in alternate dimensions, learning the powers of magic through her glyphs. She is taught by Professor Goodwitch, and despite attending the same school as Penny and Ruby, their adventures generally stay separate. Yes, she is a Doctor Strange ripoff.**

 **There was Nora, goddess of Thunder who comes from another plane of reality, best buddies with Ren, who is basically Batman trying to be Jimmy Olsen to Nora's Superman. He's super competent while Nora blows stuff up and destroys things too easily.** **There's Jaune, who is basically Jimmy Olsen trying to be Batman. He's friends with Pyrrha, who is a supersoldier called Captain Mistral. Super strength, invulnerability, magnet powers, an indestructible shield.**

 **So yeah, it was an idea. A brief idea with no plot nor enough momentum behind it to go anywhere, but it was fun to brainstorm nonetheless. As for the fill itself, I see some issues with it. The ending part with Ruby finding out Penny's identity should have been a bit longer, since Ruby realizing her best friend was both an android and a superhero would have been difficult to swallow. Other than that, it was definitely fun to write and think about it even now.**


	4. Idea: Vampire Slayers

**This was originally a cross between a "Pyrrha the vampire slayer" and "Penny the vampire slayer" idea. The gist is that on Remnant, in addition to Grimm and Salem, there also exists vampires that prey on humans and faunus, hidden among the populace. Because of this, there exists a secret worldwide organization called the Cabal to combat these vampires, existing separately from Ozpin and Salem as a third side in the secret war.**

 **Vampires are enemies of mankind, but in a different way to than the Grimm. Grimm want mankind extinct, but vampires want people around to eat. The vampires have big ties to businesses and the black market. They want to subjugate and control, not eradicate. The Cabal is all that stands in their way.**

 **Idea: Vampire Slayers**

* * *

 **Beginning Arc:**

Story begins with Pyrrha Nikos winning a tournament in Mistral. Afterwards, she goes off to meet someone she met and acts all lovey-dovey. At night, the two of them are alone. This person Pyrrha is with turns out to be a vampire, a rogue one, and Pyrrha quickly and brutally stabs the vampire. She shrugs it off and complains about the leftover ashes.

She contacts HQ and tells them that she's finished and will be reporting to her new position, Beacon Academy. She visits her parents' graves and leaves for an airship to Beacon.

On the airship, she encounters Ruby Rose and Yang, but quietly slips away, keeping on her mask of a shy nice girl. Switch POV to Weiss, who is a vampire, all superior and mighty compared to the lowly humans and faunus. She crashes into Ruby, and is angry at her. Weiss stares into Ruby's eyes and attempts to hypnotize her, but Ruby just looks at Weiss in confusion. This shocks Weiss until Blake interferes, acting even more hostile to her than in canon. Weiss huffs and stomps away.

In the evening, Pyrrha is on high alert and eyes Weiss Schnee instantly. She glares at her then pretends not to notice.

The next day, Pyrrha and Weiss stare each other down in the locker rooms. Pyrrha because Weiss is the heiress to an infamous clan, Weiss because she's a fan. A hypnotic suggestion by Weiss is shrugged off by Pyrrha with difficulty, and Pyrrha is lucky that Jaune bumps in and annoys Weiss. She commands him to leave her alone, and he does, walking away and not talking to her. Pyrrha glares at Weiss and snarls at her, which confuses Weiss. She mutters how the people at Beacon are strange and strong willed.

Initiation happens, although Blake pairs with Pyrrha instead, with Yang paired with Jaune. It happens as normal (relatively) with Team RNBW, led by Ruby, containing Pyrrha, Weiss and Blake, and Team JVLY led by Jaune. Pyrrha is both perturbed by her new team. She thinks Blake is alright.

At the end of the day, Weiss receives a package containing animal blood in bags, as well as a couple of faunus blood bags with the note: "In case of emergencies only. -Mom"

 **School Arc:**

Weiss is irritated at Ruby being her leader (Schnees do not serve, they lead. They do not bend to others, they bend the wills of their foes and allies alike, so says her mother). Ruby being immune to her powers is perplexing and aggravating. Even Pyrrha has to obey Weiss' smaller demands (pick up trash, clean this or that, hurry up in the shower), and Blake is alarmed at Weiss' strange control over her will. She asks Pyrrha about this, and when Pyrrha keeps on her mask, Blake is left confused and suspicious of her partner.

Pyrrha gives in and tells Blake a half-truth: that Schnees have an ability to manipulate others. Blake is disturbed by this revelation, however, she is suspicious about how Pyrrha would know about it.

Ruby infuriates Weiss, and after going at it, Ozpin talks to Weiss while Port talks to Ruby. Ozpin hints that he knows one or more of her relatives. He quotes the phrase Weiss' mother says, and chuckles as he recalls an old story from ages past.

It will be about a powerful enchantress who locks exiles her enemy as she mass hypnotizes the populace of a small kingdom. The enemy she exiled was her best friend, who came back. She was immune to her control, and tried to assassinate her. She failed. In anger, the enchantress executed her, but by then, the seeds were sown. Years of control built up years of resentment and hate, and soon the maid became determined to kill the enchantress. When the maid was caught, she was executed in public. This incensed the public, and soon, an underground resistance was born. Soon, the resistance grew and after many attempts, and many lives lost, they won. They regained their freedom from the enchantress, and she reaped what she had sown.

They celebrated, and the resistance was disbanded. Then a decade later, another enchantress arrived and took control. More decades past, and the resistance came back. When the overthrew the enchantress again, they decided to stay in secret the resistance grew, taking out would-be-enchantresses before they rose to power. Eventually, a king rose and with the power of his charisma and might, founded a nation and took control, a legion of followers and allies behind him.

The story will leave Weiss to think about what it means to be a leader. Why the enchantress couldn't rule while the king did. Eventually, she comes to a realization and decides to give Ruby a chance to lead, thinking on her mother's words as well as Ozpin's, deciding to become Ruby's advisor, at least for now.

Later on, Ozpin and Glynda have a talk, and Glynda remarks about Ozpin teaching Weiss about the origins of the Cabal. Ozpin brushes her off and says that it was an old experience he had in the past. Glynda sighs.

 **Jaunedice:**

Happens in the background, but with one key difference: Cardin is a vampire. Jaune is compelled to do his bidding when he refuses. Yang is worried and mentions it to Ruby, who is advised by Pyrrha (who scowls at Cardin with disdain when he bullies Velvet in the cafeteria, which Ruby notices). This results in Yang doing anti-vampire things to Cardin, who becomes afraid of her. Yang is another word for sun, and Cabal members have a tendency to name their kids in such a way.

This however pushes Cardin to resent Jaune even more, and pushes Cardin to make Jaune hurt Yang (emotionally). When Jaune does so, Yang is hurt, but Weiss notices Jaune's attempting to resist, and commands Jaune to tell the truth. He tells everything that's happened recently, and Pyrrha and Weiss come together to help Yang, while Ruby helps Jaune with Cardin.

Weiss gets info out of Yang without using her vampiric powers, (a big character growth for her) and Yang tells them everything, including Pyrrha's involvement. Weiss looks at Pyrrha, who only says that she learned it from a book. Weiss glares at her but decides to save it for later. Forever Fall happens, but both teams work together to deal with Cardin. Jaune gets Cardin off his back.

Jaune asks Yang to teach him to be a better fighter.

Weiss and Cardin have a private chat about what it means to be scion of a vampire clan. Weiss makes it clear that stepping out of line and raising alert to the Cabal will only makes both of their lives worse off. Cardin scoffs at that, so Weiss has to be more direct, using her vampiric will against Cardin's. Weiss is clearly stronger, and he meekly agrees. She then mentions her concern about the knowledge of anti-vampire techniques spreading, and Cardin says that doesn't make any sense. The Cabal wouldn't do so, not in such a haphazard way. Weiss agrees, and thinks to herself that Pyrrha isn't giving the whole truth.

Pyrrha makes contact with a Cabal director. The director informs Pyrrha that another Cabal member will be making an impromptu visit to Vale. This is due to incidents involving the White Fang and Roman Torchwick, and that Pyrrha will work with them.

 **Docks and Blake Arc:**

RNBW goes out for the day to Vale, and encounter dust shops robbed by the WF. Blake and Weiss get into an argument about the White Fang. However, Pyrrha joins the conversation on Blake's side, making Weiss angry at both of them. Sun Wukong runs off a ship and RNBW gives chase, although losing him. They bump into Penny, who greets them enthusiastically as in canon. Ruby, like canon, accidently becomes friends with her at everyone else's face-palming.

Blake and Weiss begin arguing again, with Pyrrha still on Blake's side. However, Penny speaks up candidly, pointing out flaws in Weiss and Blake's arguments before leaving. She berates Pyrrha especially for not understanding the main issue at fault and leaves.

As Penny leaves, Pyrrha receives a message on her scroll reading: "I expected better from a fellow member." Pyrrha is left quietly contemplating as the two continue to bicker, Ruby trying to console everyone. Night falls, and the argument continues. Eventually, Blake gets angry enough to call Weiss a murderer.

Silence. Weiss is shaking and Ruby is looking at her, trying to understand. She calls out to her partner, "That's- that's not true, is it?" Weiss grits her teeth, her eyes taking on a dangerous glint as she clenches her fists.

She says "No. I've never killed anyone." Blake then says her family have killed faunus, and for generations. Not just through horrible work conditions, but purposefully, in person. Blake snarls as she says her mother was killed by a Schnee, the blood in her body gone as if sucked out of her.

Weiss then replies, slowly and measured. She says that whatever her mother did was what cost her her life. For going against the natural order of things, for Weiss' kind were at the top of the food web. She then says that faunus in the White Fang were also murderers, members of her family and the SDC have been killed as well. Before things get any worse, Pyrrha and Ruby pull Blake and Weiss apart, keeping them separate. Blake and Weiss both storm off in different directions.

Blake is outside when Sun comes up to her and says that he knows things about the White Fang, and what they're about to do. He asks her to come with him. Meanwhile Weiss is furious, and decides to talk to Pyrrha to confront her on everything. She catches Pyrrha looking for Blake before receiving a call on her scroll from a Cabal member. Weiss follows after Pyrrha, taking a faunus blood bag with her.

Meanwhile, Ruby is sad and alone in her dorm room, when her scroll rings.

Pyrrha meets up with Blake and Sun. Pyrrha tells off Sun for bringing a civilian into this, but Sun brushes her off and says that Blake is a former WF member, which surprises both Pyrrha and Weiss (who is lurking in the shadows). Sun says that the Cabal is thinking about bringing Blake into their operations in Vale, seeing as she has a vested interest against vampires.

Blake reveals that she knows of vampires, but not of their specifics. She knows that Weiss was one. Sun and Pyrrha bring Blake to the docks to observe the WF stealing SDC dust cargo. They want to understand why they're doing this. Sun says that Cabal intelligence into the WF knows of the dust theft, but isn't sure as to why. Pyrrha and Sun keep Blake quiet as they watch, seeing Roman Torchwick leading the WF grunts.

Weiss, hidden to everyone, decides to interrupt and stop the theft. She orders Torchwick and the grunts to stop, staring intently at Torchwick, who laughs off the effect. He gloats a little, saying things along the lines of: "You vampires really need to work on your persuasion skills. Us day-people have to use our charisma to get others to listen."

He then shoots at Weiss, who dodges it and bares her fangs. She had just drank her bag of blood and was at full power. She charges at Roman, physically deflecting his attacks with enhanced strength. Roman hits her in the back before pulling out a bright light that blinds Weiss. Roman moves to strike, but Weiss is pulled out of the way by none other than Blake. Sun and Pyrrha join the battle, taking on WF grunts and Bullheads. At first they have the advantage, until Neo arrives.

She flashes in and grabs Blake by the neck and slamming her into the ground, baring fangs. When that happens, Sun and Pyrrha rush Neo, taking on a vampire, their training. Blake manages to escape but is wounded. Weiss attacks Roman again, knocking the light from his hand and taking him down before Neo kicks Weiss in the stomach and WF Bullheads begin firing on all the students.

They are about to be overwhelmed before lasers take down the Bullheads. This was done by Penny, who reveals herself with Ruby in tow. It turns out that Penny called Ruby to do friendship things, but Ruby said that she was busy looking for her friends, so Penny went along to help. Penny located Pyrrha and Sun using their scrolls' locations.

She destroys the Bullheads, everyone is saved, and Roman and Neo escape from being lasered. Beacon and police arrive. Weiss makes amends with Blake, who reciprocates. They decide to be teammates, in spite of their families. Pyrrha and Weiss have a chat as well. Weiss doesn't know much about the Cabal, but she understands why they exist. She doesn't like them, and after learning that Pyrrha is a member, says that she can't really trust Pyrrha. Pyrrha nods and understands and begins to apologize, but Weiss stops her and says that she is willing to give Pyrrha a chance, at least for now.

Pyrrha is of course, shocked at this. She didn't expect to be in the graces to the heiress to the SDC clan so easily, especially after her secret was revealed to Weiss. She knows that her mission will inevitably lead to Weiss' death, very likely at her own hands, but for the moment, Pyrrha thinks she can pretend that vampires and others can coexist.

The three members of RNBW agree not to tell Ruby about vampires or the Cabal, but Blake decides on her own to reveal that she is a faunus to all of them. Ruby accepts the made up story that the others said to explain why they were at the docks.

* * *

 **Notes:**

And that's all I could think of. What would have followed is a plot that weaves in the Salem plot, but now with vampires and a secret society fighting vampires too. There is a general list of things I'd want to do if I ever wrote this:

Explain the details of the Cabal and their goal to kill all vampires. There would be much more interference by the Cabal's leadership into Pyrrha and Sun's lives, and more missions as a result, resulting in a story with mini arcs throughout as the main arc progressed. The main arc would be similar to canon, but caused by a shift in the stalemate between mankind and the vampires. This would be a distraction for Salem's group to deal damage to civilization.

Penny would reveal at least some of her secrets to Ruby, but keep Pyrrha and Sun out of the reveal. Penny would be a more serious character, flipping between the naivety and innocence we normally have, and a darker, more abrasive and commanding side. This is due to being programmed by Victor Polendina, a Cabal leader. This is ironically softened by Ironwood, who tries to teach Penny about the grayness of the world and how to have fun. Yep.

Sun Wukong is as he appears to be: an easygoing dude with a free spirit. Except he hunts vampires on the side. This less serious attitude is due to living in Vacuo, where vampire clans are smaller and have less power, with the only issue being the headmistress of Shade, as Vacuo is a more anarchic and less stratified society. That being said, Sun would definitely step up to defeat vampires when need be.

The biggest change would be Pyrrha, who is much more serious, and a more fervent member of the Cabal. In canon, Pyrrha feels isolated from others due to being put on a pedestal. Being just another cog in a grand organization might actually make Pyrrha feel more at home. Her outstanding talents would make her a useful asset, but wouldn't result in special treatment or anything similar. If she entered it early enough, she would definitely side with the Cabal and identify with the group absolutely.

Her canon personality being a mask for her true self. This would be compared to how vampires operate: many have public personas as a human or faunus, but a private vampiric self when communing with others. A vampire that lives and works only with those in the know would be extremely rare, due to the small amount of vampires in total and a lack of other supernatural entities to exist with.

The story would be long, dealing with many characters and plot threads on a personal or global scale. It would be in excess of 300,000 words, at the minimum.

* * *

Schnees as vampires? Cliche, but it makes sense. They pretty much have all the characteristics of them. This is coupled with a likely scenario to result from human-faunus-vampire relations. Due to faunus being oppressed, it makes it much easier for vampires to feed. Missing faunus would result in less resources needed to hide the fact and pay off the right people.

Another thing is that vampires would feed at night. Faunus can see at night, but humans can't. Thus if a vampire feeds on a faunus in the darkness, faunus can see that happening, but humans won't. Thus less human witnesses.

The strife and mistrust between the two races could be used by vampires in secret to generate bloodshed and events that allow them to take bodies for feeding and gain more influence as they play both sides. Vampires actively benefit from racism against faunus.

Thus, the Cabal would spend resources to combat prejudice. It's possible that they supported the creation of the White Fang in its peaceful state. With the vampires in control of governments and possibly information sources, peaceful means wouldn't work. The Cabal then would have funded Sienna Khan's White Fang in secret to bring about the change they want. It isn't a perfect solution. The equality is born not of respect, but fear, and wouldn't last. But it's better than before.

This leads to Salem's Syndicate fighting the Cabal for control of the White Fang, using Adam's faction. Adam's faction would divide humans and faunus further, being what the vampires want. The Cabal has their work cut out for them down the road in the White Fang Civil War that would happen in the story equivalent of Volume 5.

Kali Belladonna being killed by a Schnee vampire makes things more personal for Blake, and might lead to some cool plot twists depending on how it goes. Perhaps everything is as it was, Kali represented a threat to inequality and thus vampire-kind, and was assassinated. Perhaps it was a random killing to show how much vampires _suck_ out of Remnant and makes things worse.

Or maybe in an even more convoluted twist, Kali was killed in a vampire turf war. She was involved in some way. Perhaps an association with a rival clan and an easy target due to her non-vampiric nature. Or maybe in a bigger and crazier plot twist: Kali was a vampire! Still dead before the story starts though, but a lot could be done with just one death.

* * *

Pyrrha and Weiss' first interaction in the locker rooms could have had two interesting possibilities: Weiss is a fan of Pyrrha but Pyrrha knows of Weiss and is cold to her. Or both know of each other and Jaune is confused at their glares and fake politeness. Both interesting, and both result in much different further interactions and stories. My above sort-of outline is the former.

Penny is a hybrid design: Ironwood worked on her to combat Salem, while Dr. Polendina works for the Cabal to fight vampires. Thinking on it, androids (or gynoids if you want to be specific) are great against vampires. They are immune to hypnotic suggestion, they cannot be fed upon, and they could potentially match the speed and strength of a vampire. Also, UV lights and garlic dispensers could be built in. Using holy power against vampires might be more difficult, depending on the specific requirements and such.

This is actually part of a personal fan theory of mine: Penny is whatever the world needs her to be. Her stated goal was to "save the world", which is awfully vague. In canon, she's very good at fighting Bullheads, people, and Grimm, likely. But if Remnant was a different place with different horrors, Penny would have been designed differently. If Remnant was under alien threat, she would be designed to fight aliens. If it was a water world, she would be built to swim fast and punch pirates in the face. So a Remnant with vampires and Grimm would have a Penny that can fight both.

The Cabal has ties to Ozpin's Order, both working to ensure mankind's survival, but disagree on key issues. The Order prefers to guide youngsters and only bring them into the fold when necessary, while the Cabal actively seeks out and trains youth to fight vampires. The Order is lenient on vampires surviving, while most members of the Cabal are looking for the extermination of all vampires. (This is a moral and ethical issue. The Order believes that such genocide is on par with the Grimm wanting to destroy man and faunus/human purists). The Order believes in 'good' vampires, while the Cabal believes in only evil ones.

This tension between the two groups is risen even further with Ironwood's friendship/political alliance with Jacques Schnee, a young convert who has assumed role as the face of the SDC, as well as his hiring of Winter Schnee as his right-hand woman. The Cabal has serious concerns that Ironwood might be compromised.

The Schnees are a clan of prominent business people and vampires who hide in plain sight. Attempts by the Cabal to destroy them would ruin the economy and potentially turn public opinion against them.

Winter and Weiss are a bit colder to each other, with Winter being seen as a traitor. This is due to Jacques being a young convert, meaning his position is slightly lower. Willow Schnee plays a prominent role in the Schnee's dealings in the underworld and black market, while Jacques deals with more legitimate ventures. This version of Weiss is more loyal to being a Schnee, and has a better relationship with her father and brother. With Winter gone, Weiss is likely to take over the underworld dealings while Whitley takes over the business.

Team with Blake, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss (RNBW or Rainbow)

Team with Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Yang (JVLY or Jewelry)

The Penny vs Pyrrha fight in the Vytal tournament would end differently. In addition to trusting each other, Pyrrha has knowledge of Penny's abilities, so she would be confused at the many swords appearing out of nowhere instead of being scared. In addition, she would be happy and glad to lose to Penny. Penny is the future of vampire slaying, and if she can defeat Pyrrha, then their secret cabal has a better chance of winning the millennia long stalemate.

* * *

 **The Cabal:**

Pyrrha, Penny, Ciel, and Sun, Doctor Victor Polendina, Arthur Watts (mole for Salem), a shadow network in the countries of Remnant, at least a few council seats to counter the Order, businesses to fund operations, members supporting or within the White Fang and other organizations.

They work in secret, with only a few outsiders knowing any members. Doctor Polendina is the liaison with the Order via Ironwood, who is also the Order's liaison to both the Cabal and the Schnee clan.

Ciel Soleil was born into the Cabal, her family being vampire hunters for many generations. (Soleil is French for sun). Her little sun symbol on her forehead could be an indication of a sun-based religion or tradition, or maybe a family crest. She is exactly like canon otherwise. Being partnered with Penny, the so-called future of vampire slaying, is a mixed bag. While overshadowed, Ciel can't help but be in awe at the feats Penny pulls.

Victor Polendina is a Cabal leader and scientist who built Penny with the help of General Ironwood. A darker take on Penny's father, he has been fighting vampires for decades, and is deadly serious with his goals. A serious, no-nonsense man with uncompromising worldview and goals. He is sometimes at odds with Ironwood, who by comparison looks like Ozpin.

A potential plot thread would be Yang's name. It could be used as a hint to later reveal that Taiyang was originally a member of the Cabal, but later defected to Ozpin's side, likely related to his team. This could be used as a compare of the Order and Cabal's policies and methods. It could also be used as a comparison of switching sides, similar to how Qrow left his tribe for Ozpin's group.

The Cabal would definitely be gray, occasionally taking extreme measures to defeat the vampire menace, such as funding Khan's White Fang. They also kill vampires without exception, and only keep vampires alive long enough to use them. It would be noted that while capable of horrible acts and moral grayness, they are in the end a force for good.

The question for the protagonists would be whether every action the group performs is for the greater good. Even if the group is good, maybe they are misguided. Maybe they've been corrupted from outside and in. Maybe they've gotten too inflexible and unwilling to change. Perhaps they cannot see their own grayness and still see the world in black and white: vampires black, they white.

The Cabal will stay in the shadows for the whole story, for they are not represented by their leaders, they are their ideals: freedom from vampires, etc. Should they be compromised in any of the ways listed above, they can rebound and survive, as they have done through the ages. The only question is what must they change to survive.

 **The Vampire Clans:**

Vampires were once solitary or working in small families, but the existence of the Cabal forced vampires to join together to hold back the Cabal's assassins. The story that Ozpin tells Weiss is a potential origin story for the Cabal, however it exists in myth and legend, and Blake could know a similar version written for are broken up into clans, families or groups of families lead by one or more elder vampires.

Schnee Clan in Atlas: at least 300 members, the current head being Willow Schnee, 350 years of age, who took the position after her father Nicholas Schnee, aged 500 at the time, was killed. Her consort/husband, Jacques, was a strong-willed human that bested her, leading to a romance and his eventual turning. They have three kids. Winter, the eldest, defected to the Order. The entire SDC board is vampiric, as well as several other members in prominent occupations, including bankers, doctors, scientists, and a few council seats.

The Winchester Clan: current head is Cardin's grandfather, about 200 years old. Relatively small clan, but still strong enough to have clout in Vale. Holds one seat on the Council. The Xiong Clan runs the underworld in Vale. Junior, Melanie, and Miltia are members. There are other vampire groups, and the vast majority of powerful figures in the black market in both Vale and Mistral are vampires.

There are two small clans in Vacuo. The headmistress of Shade Academy is a vampire and likely also the founder of Shade, being over 800 years old. She would be independent of other clans.

Vasilias clan in Mistral: medium size, current head is 500 years old. Neptune Vasilias is a member, but is an adopted human. There are two other medium sized clans in Mistral.

Roman and Neo: A very odd duo. Roman is human, Neo is a vampire, with Roman as the technical leader. This leads to derision from all sides, the vampires find it disgusting that a vampire is subservient to a human, while the Cabal finds it infuriating that a human is working with a vampire. Roman is a human in the vampire underworld, having made a name for himself in it. Because of this, he has a sympathy for faunus, understanding, at least to some degree, their plight.

 **The Order and Salem's Group:**

Ozpin's group of people trying to stop Salem. In this AU, they're mostly the same, although they occasionally butt heads/work with the Cabal, which has helped them out at times. They are generally more tolerant of vampires, and Winter Schnee is a member and a vampire. She works closely with Ironwood, who is at odds with Jacques Schnee as a result, however Ironwood's influence and position as Order-Cabal-Schnee liaison/General/Headmaster/double-Atlas Council member allows him to get away with a lot.

Lionheart is still a mole for Salem, nothing much has changed. Arthur Watts is part of the Cabal, but is a mole for Salem. Luckily, the decentralized nature of the Cabal means that Watts doesn't know everything the Cabal is doing, only a significant portion. It's quite possible one or more of Salem's group are vampires, most likely Cinder, Tyrian, or both.

 **Vampire biology:**

Spread through biting, but occurs only if vampire does it in a specific way, otherwise the human/faunus just bleeds. Vampires can eat all foods, but gains no nutrition from them. Blood is all that is needed. They drink primarily human and faunus blood (both are equivalent), and need to do so to survive and stave off the hunger.

The vampire power is Increased physical strength and healing. This is stacked with aura. They also have night vision. Human vampires have night vision almost as good as a faunus, while faunus vampires have even better night vision.

(?) Bloodlust. Vampire becomes feral, strength, healing, and speed increases, but loss of control and intelligence.

Hypnosis/suggestion. Able to suggest and control others, primarily through eye contact. The success of control depends on the individual's will, as well as resistance that can be built up through certain techniques, however, powerful and old vampires cannot be stopped with these techniques. Silver-eyed warriors are immune to all.

Vampires are weakened in bright sunlight. A fed vampire is reduced to a non fed state, and a non-fed vampire is weakened further. High amounts of sunlight in high heat is especially dangerous to them. Vampires of all melanin levels get sunburned quickly. Sunscreen helps a lot, preventing sunburn and lowering power loss, but it is not a perfect solution. Portable UV lights fashioned into weapons exist and are somewhat effective.

Cyborg vampires would be awesome, and if I wrote this, I would figure out a way to have at least one. Penny-level robotics is on par with a somewhat older vampire's strengths, although the most oldest vampires could destroy Penny with ease.

* * *

 **So yeah, it's a big idea, but I don't know which parts to keep, how to continue, etc. I'll likely never write this, but it's nice to write out what I can. Feel free to use this if anyone wants to. Just credit me, and all that jazz. This was originally mostly notes, but I wanted to create a story, albeit unfinished, for you guys. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Idea: Fusion Fic

**It's like the Amalgam comics (Marvel/DC) crossover, but using only RWBY characters. Most of this stuff was written during or at the end of Volume 4, and was just a random thought experiment after seeing a piece of fanart (that I can't find or recall much at all) of Weiss as a knight. Then I wrote the first character, Blanche Arc, and it just went from there. I especially felt commitment after I came up with the best mashup pun for a weapon I could muster. Overall, it's just a bunch of notes. Anyone who wants to use to this totally can.**

 **Idea: Fusion Fic**

* * *

 **Team BAWG (Bog)**

Jaune Arc + Weiss Schnee = **Blanche Arc (Schnee)**

She is a magic knight that uses the Schnee glyphs with one hand and a sword in the other. The glyphs act as a shield. She wields **Crocea Morstenaster** , a sword with multi-dust action, passed from generation to generation.

She has seven siblings, all of which part of the Schnee Corporation, which has a long line of businessmen and hunters. However, her father barred her from becoming a huntress, despite that being what she wants the most. She gets help from her eldest sister, a huntress, who teaches her the ways of the Schnee Glyph and sword. She then runs away from Atlas to Vale and gets into Beacon under a fake name, barely making past the basic test.

She wants to be a hero more than anything, but also must deal with her family legacy, her father deciding that she would be the heiress to the company. She's taking things one step at a time, working studiously to catch up to the other students, who are years ahead of her. She is a competent tactician and business-minded, but also adorkable and hot headed.

Things were going swimmingly, at least until her father found out.

Yang Xiao Long + Pyrrha Nikos = **Victoria Wrach**

To the public, she's the Invincible Girl, a paragon of what it means to be a huntress: smart, strong, polite, altruistic. To her friends, she's a loudmouthed party girl with an obsession with puns. Now if only she could make friends outside of her sister.

She really likes to party and go clubbing, but has difficulty getting enough friends together to do so. The ones that follow her because of her fame don't really count in her mind. No romance between Victoria and Blanche, but an odd friendship results between the two, especially after becoming partners. Victoria helps train Blanche and doesn't accept any payment whatsoever, which confused Blanche at first.

Ruby Rose + Lie Ren = **Mei Gui**

A quiet, unassuming girl always in deep thought. She is very calm, a stark contrast to Annabelle and Victoria, her sister. She has peed semblance. She had a previous encounter with Annabelle many years ago.

Blake Belladonna + Nora Valkyrie = **Annabelle Belladonna-Valkyrie**

A former orphan and agent for the White Fang, her bubbly personality is a facade to mask the inner turmoil within her soul or something. She was adopted by the leaders of the White Fang, but cursed them out and ran away to stay in the White Fang after they left when it became violent. When she realized how horrible the White Fang was, she ran away.

Nowhere left to turn, she remembers an old friend from long ago, someone she hasn't seen in years. But what little she remembers, about a quiet girl who wants to be a huntress inspires her to apply to Beacon academy.

When they finally do meet again, Mei only vaguely remembers. Mei feels guilty for forgetting, and tries her best to be the best friend she could be. Annabelle realizes that Mei has forgotten most of their past time together, but she doesn't care.

* * *

 **Other Characters**

General James Ironwood + Sun Wukong = **Sun Tzu**

The laid back cyborg genius general, nicknamed Robot Monkey by his subordinates, he is a chill dude who is also really efficient, taking on many jobs at once. Although he can be a bit forceful in military and safety matters. He is the headmaster of Atlas Academy.

Penny Polendina + Neon Katt = **Neon Polendina**

Cyborg supersoldier with speed semblance and nunchuck swords. Is also super annoying and loud. Is speed rivals with Mei. The two of them are frenemies, bickering with each other, although they do hang out often enough. She warns Mei about the dangers of the world, the hidden enemies lying below. She namedrops "Cabal".

Glynda Goodwitch + Raven Branwen = **Gwyn Wrach**

Victoria's mom, badass, cruel, survivalist, also a teacher at Beacon (Glynda Goodwitch with Raven's personality). Fights with a whip-sword and a teleporting objects via portals at enemies. She is estranged from her daughter, having left her family years ago to pursue strength by fighting the most powerful evils of the world to become stronger.

Now though, she tries to be there for her daughter. Victoria doesn't like being the teacher's pet, valedictorian status notwithstanding. They clash frequently.

Melanie + Miltia = **Mellie, Annie, Millie, and Tia** : Identical quadruplets who work for Barkeep.

Junior + Shopkeep = **Barkeep** : Guy who runs a bar. He's shady but also trustworthy at the same time. People like him, even if he is a criminal. Maybe.

Coco Adel + Cardin Winchester = **Coco Puff**

Braggart, sometimes racist, sometimes bully with a soft spot for Scarlet. Totally tsundere for Scarlet.

Velvet Scarlatina + Scarlet David = **Scarlet Scarlatina**

A rabbit faunus who's also a pirate. Semblance is stealing others' weapons and moves via camera. Also talks like a pirate. Yar!

Owns an actual wooden ship that Team BAWG use on their worldwide mission later on.

Summer Rose + Higanbana waitress = **Xia Mei**

A former huntress and mother of Mei Gui, she faked her death and changed her identity to that of a waitress in another country.

Emerald Sustrai + Ciel Soleil = **Émeraude Ville**

Neon's minder for Sun Tzu, secretly a double agent. She acts stern and rule-abiding, but she has a mischievous side and is adept at stealing.

Russel Thrush + Sky Lark + Dove Bronzewing = **Black Birdman**

Yeah whatever. They're just there because I needed more fusions.

Qrow Branwen + Gar Montoya = **Phwyalchen Wrach**

The best character. His sheer awesomeness burns his enemies' eyes and brightens up his allies' lives. Brother of Gwyn. Fights evil in the coolest way possible, while also being efficient.

Salem + Kali Belladonna = **Salem "Sally" Belladonna**

Annabelle's adoptive mother and former super villain who was reformed and is now a pacifist. She is saddened that her daughter ran away from home. Founder of the Cabal, but left after realizing that a New World Order is a bad thing.

Cinder Fall + Winter Schnee = **Asche Schnee**

Brought into the Cabal by her father, she is filled with dual loyalties. She still loves her sister, but will do what is necessary. Even if it goes against her wishes. Ruthless, cunning, she wields her glyphs and sword alongside an ancient power called The Maiden, granting her control over the elements.

Arthur Watts + Jacques Schnee = **Jacques Schnee née Watts**

Member of the Cabal, using his intellect and wealth to further along the plans for a New World Order. He runs the Schnee Corp, a conglomerate that deals in many aspects of life, from Dust, to scrolls, to weapons, robotics, food, clothes, real estate, etc. One could live their entire lives on only Schnee products. In fact, some do without noticing.

His being named Jacques Schnee (being the only "normal" name among all the fused characters) is a hint at his true nature.

Mercury Black + the Vytal Tournament finalist with a hood

Nana nana nana nana na Assassin's Creed! Works for the Cabal.

Tyrian Callows + Neptune = **Tyrianosaurus Rex**

He's a crazy killer with blue hair and is afraid of water. Also a dinosaur faunus. Wants the New World Order for a world where merit and might determines all, not something as useless as heritage.

Ozpin + Sienna Khan = **Jaune Khanner**

Once upon a time, a fabled revolutionary founded the White Fang and huntsman academies to promote peace, prosperity, and equality. Then he died.

Since then, he had been living a life, fighting against the Cabal. He has been headmaster, leader of the White Fang, and so many others. But he can feel it. His life is running out. He can transfer to a new body once, maybe twice more before finally leaving the mortal plane.

* * *

 **Plot**

Over the millennia, Remnant was subject to many great wars, redrawing the maps every time, giving rise to new empires and kingdoms. In truth, the world is at least partially governed by a secretive group known only as the Cabal, whose goal is to obtain absolute rule over everything.

For generations, they were influencing the world from the shadows, at least until the Great War. Two hundred years ago, Remnant was engulfed in a massive conflict that lasted 80 years, and the nation rose from the ashes were free from the Cabal's control, as new groups such as the huntsman academies and White Fang were brought into existence. The Cabal, now weakened, fought against their newest threat, Jaune Khanner, for the fate of Remnant itself.

Years after, Jaune Khanner has assembled his allies and students, in a final bid to defeat the greatest evil.

* * *

 **Also, Fwyalchen is Welsh for blackbird. The name Phwyalchen is because of Qrow. Mei Gui and Xia Mei are vague Chinese google translations of rose bushes and other similar words.**

 **Yes, this is the second time I've used the word "Cabal" to describe a secret group. Of course this time it's evil.**


End file.
